


How to Find Your Bookworm

by sunsetseas77



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Bookstores, Established Relationship, F/F, Mention of Lex Luthor - Freeform, a little bit of a character study, domestic supercorp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 07:27:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13406346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetseas77/pseuds/sunsetseas77
Summary: Lena Luthor is a bookworm. When Kara lets Lena out of her sight in one of the biggest bookstores around, she has to use her knowledge of her girlfriend to find her after Lena wanders off. Kara occasionally waylays herself.“Kara thinks about taking a few travel guides but decides she should do a little more research first. Plus, she’d like the outcome to be a surprise. And, she still needs to find her future travel companion.”Inspired partly by a post seen a few months ago.





	How to Find Your Bookworm

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired partly by a post and partly by the fanfic writers who write Luthor kids’ backstory so well. I don't think of this as fluff so it's just tagged domestic - more of a 'day in the life', possibly.

Kara had observed Lena’s penchant for books, for sitting quietly and wrapping herself in their words and worlds, not long after they had become friends. Not surprisingly, a smaller room in Lena’s apartment serves as a cozy library, three walls lined with books and furnished with a vanilla bean love seat and an incredibly comfortable, worn-in, mocha-colored recliner, throws over the backs of both, along with two lamps and a rug one can sink toes into over the wood floor. The shelves hold the products of variable yet selective, and occasionally whimsical, choices; a well-preserved first edition by Edgar Allen Poe could be found next to a dog-eared copy of erotic poetry, a history of Shackleton’s unfortunate attempt at the South Pole might lie on top of a recently released mystery, a dystopian novel has a chance of toppling onto the musings of a leading physicist. An empty mug and a spare pair of glasses are commonly found on one of the two end tables, and an e-Reader and its charger occupy the bottom shelf of one table, though it doesn’t get much use.

Over the six months they’ve been a couple, Kara has noticed during her visits how frequently she finds Lena there, when she doesn’t find her fixated on her computer or poring over paperwork. When she is on night-patrol and Lena is at home, she regularly does a fly-by, learning to look for the luminescence of a lamp peeking from the room between the wood slat blinds. On sunny weekends devoted to her ‘second’ job, she flashes by the large window to see if Lena is enjoying the light streaming in. 

If Kara stops in after a rainstorm and finds Lena there, she changes out of her suit, dries off, and sometimes brings in her own mug of tea, finding a spot to relax either on the love seat or sprawled on the plush rug with a throw; Lena almost always has claimed the recliner, not so much for the recline function but because it’s wide enough for her to curl up in. And while getting cold in a rainstorm is more of an opinion than an actual change in temperature for her, sometimes Kara comes in and coaxes her girlfriend to help her warm up elsewhere. Foggy days may find them both in among the literature, watching the marine layer blanket the city in quiet colors and muted sounds.

At first Kara doesn’t have details on the history of Lena’s connection to books, to reading, to libraries of all shapes and sizes. The assumption that Lena is extremely bright and curious and, therefore, has over her whole life sought knowledge and experience through them is only part of it. With time, other parts become clear, a more nuanced understanding prompted by a picture trapped in an older edition of _Frankenstein _that Kara pulls off the shelf one evening. As the book comes free and the pages spread, something drops to the floor.__

____

____

Realizing it’s a photo, Kara picks it up to examine. In it, Lena, who looks to be about five years old, is sitting in a wingback chair in front of Lex, who’s holding _What Was I Scared Of? _and appears to be reading to her. He’s also either acting out the story, mugging for the camera, or both, eyes wide and eyebrows as high as they’ll go, almost touching his curly bangs. Lena’s smile in the photo is joyful, and the closeness radiating from the siblings shines through.__

____

____

Kara turns to Lena, who is, predictably, in the recliner, a dark red knit sweater pulled around her and bespectacled eyes focused on a thriller about corporate espionage, and prompts, “Look what I found.”

Lena glances up, focusing quickly on the picture. “Oh,” she pauses, looking between it and the book in Kara’s hand, “I haven’t seen that in a long time. I forgot I put it there.”

Kara takes a step over to her and her hand comes up to take the photo. Kara relinquishes it and remains quiet, giving her time.

Lena seems briefly to be deep in reflection. And then she gives a small laugh, looking up at Kara. “Lionel took this. Lex used to read to me every night we were both in the same place, until I was about seven; he’d even read to me over the phone if he could. He started the day Lionel brought me to the mansion.”

Lena moves her feet more tightly into her body as she returns her gaze to the photo, and Kara takes the wordless invitation, tucking her skirt under her and sitting on the edge of the recliner cushion.

“When I got there,” Lena continues, “those first days and nights, they were disorienting. That’s my adult take on things, of course; child me found it scary. So, every night he let me pick a book. I don’t know where they came from; I think Lex dug the children’s books out of some deep part of his closet or maybe even went and bought some.”

Kara gives her a smile and a nod when she looks up again, and her hand moves to rest on Lena’s feet burrowed into warm slippers. Lena’s eyes shift to scan the books around them.

“I knew how to read, actually, but even after the shock of transition wore off, after those first weeks, I didn’t want to let them know that. I wanted Lex to keep reading to me, and I thought he wouldn’t if they learned I could do it myself. It was a ritual, it felt safe.

“I overheard part of an argument one night. I understood then that Lionel knew I could read – I suppose one of the social workers told him - and he and Lillian were telling Lex to stop, I had had time to adjust and needed to start behaving ‘normally’. And Lex told them that this was absolutely what he should do and he wasn’t going to stop. I didn’t hear the rest – I ran back to my room as quietly as I could - but he must have won because he didn’t stop and he didn’t hide that he was still reading to me.”

Kara almost feels a physical pain in her own emotional reaction to her girlfriend’s childhood as she listens to Lena’s account of her older brother, her tone one of adoration edged with loss.

“I turned five a couple of months after Lionel came to get me, so using that, I know that sometime between five and six Lex was reading me books about tricksters in myth and folklore. One night he was going to read about Zomo, but for some reason it just felt better that night and I picked up the book and started reading to him. He had the biggest grin on his face. From then on, he would read to me and then I would read a little to him in the evenings.”

Lena is rubbing a corner of the photo absentmindedly between her fingers while looking at it again. “Even when we were older, we spent some of our best quality time together in the mansion’s library, reading and discussing everything. This room, being surrounded by books – those things take me back to that time. I love this space and what’s in it for the knowledge and insight here, for the escape, for the memories they bring me. I guess that’s why I try to spend time here.”

Kara moves a hand up from Lena’s feet while she’s talking and gently interlaces their fingers. As Lena finishes up, Kara grasps her hand a little more tightly. She can’t think of anything to say to that, so she lets the quiet just exist between them.

About a month after that evening, Lena’s away on a business trip to re-purpose an L-Corp facility, and Kara is packing to join her for the weekend. When a perusal of places to see leads Kara to the tidbit that her destination is home to one of the largest bookstores in the world, she knows where they could be spending part of their time.

She proposes the outing the morning after she arrives at Lena’s hotel and is met with a quietly exuberant, “I would love to.” They find a café in the area for lunch and, properly fortified, head into over 50,000 square feet of written and illustrated works.

The expression on Lena’s face from the moment they enter is that of the quintessential kid in a candy store. Kara is holding her hand at first but it takes only minutes for Lena to drift away. And then a display on current events and newsmakers catches Kara’s attention. When next she looks around, Lena is nowhere to be seen.

Kara’s first impulse is to use her heightened vision and hearing to find her. She starts to scan the very near aisles, listening and looking for Lena, the search image of a woman in a dark chocolate sweater, ecru slacks, and boots with her black jacket folded over one arm. But the establishment is buzzing with customers. The experience is slightly overwhelming, feels intrusive, and is unsuccessful. And, Kara thinks to herself, it’s also unnecessary. She’s known Lena for well over a year. She can find her given her familiarity with the other woman and what she likes. But then, a thought pokes at that confidence - Lena does have eclectic taste and this store is huge with several hundred sections. Kara shakes her head dismissing it. She has a plan - hit nearer sections that correspond to Lena’s interests first, then expand her search pattern outwards as needed.

She heads to the nearest sections that have ‘Lena’ written all over them, Science and Mathematics and their neighbor, Engineering. Lena has been talking about how L Corp is trying to boost power gird efficiency in certain areas and has taken an interest in comparative designs and mechanisms for them. She’s not down either aisle that Kara walks, but Kara finds herself stopping to pull Astronomy books off a shelf in Science. She flips through a couple, always intrigued and somewhat wistful about the subject, but the pictures in the third hold her attention the longest. Especially when she gets to the pages on nebulae. She leafs through until she is on a picture of the Crab Nebula, her fingers tracing the patterns of gases and particles found in deep space.

“That one’s my favorite.” Kara looks down to see a dark-haired girl of about eight with purple glitter frame glasses standing about a foot away and looking at the page. 

“Why?” she asks.

“Because it’s a supernova remnant with a pulsar at the center. And people on Earth saw the supernova. That Hubble Telescope picture is the best!” The girl looks up at Kara with quizzical enthusiasm, “Which one do you like?”

Kara can’t help but smile, “The Horsehead Nebula is one of my favorites.”

“Why?” She could have seen that question coming.

Kara doesn’t really think before answering, “I hadn’t actually seen a horse until I was 13. I knew the nebula, but I knew it by another name. When I opened a book on space after I saw a horse and there it was with that name – it was perfect.”

She realizes that what she’s said may sound a bit strange, but the girl just replies, “I like that one, too.” A voice from the next aisle calls, “Beth,” and she heads in that direction with a little wave to Kara. The conversation pulls Kara out of her reverie and she slips books back into place. Looking around, she heads towards the next sign she thinks could have attracted Lena’s attention.

Cooking is one very long aisle with no familiar faces in it. Kara scans it for clues of Lena’s passing. Is the spine of that book on _50 Ways to Disguise Healthy Foods _slightly out of alignment with the others in its row? Possibly she’s been here, but she’s gone now and Home and Garden, just across the way, prods Kara onward.__

There is noticeable space where a book has been removed in the area dedicated to container gardens. Lena could be the culprit; they’ve been discussing how to green up Lena’s fairly large and practically empty balcony with elements such as vertical spaces for stacking, railing boxes, and self-watering planters. Kara’s partial to hanging herb gardens and believes in the total aesthetic developing organically while Lena’s leaning towards galvanized steel and stand-alone raised beds laid out using schematics drawn up before anything is installed. It’s Lena’s balcony but Kara is getting a say in it, and the project could develop into an interesting way for them to see how their approaches to shared spaces might blend together.

Moving on, Kara gets pulled in by the Travel section, though she’s not expecting to find Lena there; she’s been all over the world, often spending prolonged periods of time at her destinations. The stop here is really for Kara, who wants to find a vacation experience she can gift to Lena that will be different. And one that they’ll enjoy being on together.

She’s leafing through a few books on tropical destinations, even though she has heard some of Lena’s feelings on prolonged exposure to sunlight (“I burn. Easily.”). Kara’s natural inclination is for warm, sunny places and she’s hoping she can find something that will fit for both of them.

“It’s hard to choose, isn’t it?” She turns her head to see a blonde man who’s about her age looking over the books in her hands before looking up with a smile. 

She returns it, “Yeah. I’m trying to figure out where to take someone who’s been to so many places. I’m partial to warmth but she isn’t a fan of a lot of heat and sun.”

He gestures at what she’s looking through. “You’ve got several Central American options there. Have you ever considered visiting one of the cloud forests, say, in Ecuador or Costa Rica? It’s cool there but not cold and the sun isn’t intense either. The natural setting and the plants and animals are spectacular. And if you can convince her to enjoy the sun for a day or two, it’s usually just a few hours away from dryer, warmer destinations, sometimes with a beach.”

She tilts her head down to the books and then up again, “You know, that’s a really good lead. Thank you.”

“No problem. I’m familiar with that area, so, happy to help,” comes the answer as the man slips by and continues on to the section on Southeast Asia.

Kara thinks about taking a few travel guides but decides she should do a little more research first. Plus, she’d like the outcome to be a surprise. And, she still needs to find her future travel companion.

Lena flies through biographies, occasionally about those successful in business, but more frequently about those who revolutionized science and technology or culture, or who overcame barriers, in ways that led to shifts in people’s ability to succeed and thrive. Thus, Kara has to give that section a quick glance. Lena’s not there, though Kara notes empty spaces in the area covering female U.S. Supreme Court justices. She also can’t pass by Sports and Outdoors without checking. With the Winter Olympics fast approaching she has been surprised by Lena’s odd obsession with curling (“It’s physics and geometry, Kara!”) and her general interest in most sports that involve runners or skates traveling at break-neck speed over ice, even though she herself is averse to trying any ice-related activities.

Foiled there as well in her search, Kara is passing by Graphic Novels when she hears the familiar voice that still can make her skin tingle. She reflects on her original concern about eclectic taste – she certainly wasn’t expecting to find Lena here. 

Kara listens in as Lena debates the awesomeness of a relatively new comic hero’s suit with what sounds like three young teens, talking about how the placement and type of built-in shielding wouldn’t even protect him from the byproducts of his own advanced weaponry, which is what the character is known for.

As Kara comes around the corner of the aisle, Lena seems to have made her point, as a boy who’s just shorter than Lena with black, curly hair is saying, “Okay, I see what you mean. You talk about this like you’re an engineer.”

“I am,” is Lena’s confident reply. “I specialize in mechanical and electrical engineering and I dabble in other areas.”

“Oh, cool,” the smaller, brunette girl with braces next to him states emphatically with a smile.

Kara is close enough now that Lena notices her approach and looks over. 

“Hi,” Lena greets her with a grin.

“Hi. Making friends and influencing young minds?”

The kids disperse with Kara’s presence, taking the debated comic and nodding as they slide down the aisle with the boy wearing a Metropolis Meteors baseball cap sending a “Good talk” and thumbs up Lena’s way.

Lena turns back from watching them go, “Just encouraging critical thinking about the functionality and superiority of certain design choices.”

Kara has to laugh over her girlfriend’s commitment to realism, “Of course you are.” 

Lena looks at her, gaze relaxed and open; Kara is happy to see her truly enjoying the outing.

“This place is impressive. Should we check out some other sections?” Kara moves a little closer and holds out a hand, more aware this time that she should hold onto her bookworm.

“Of course,” Lena grabs the two books she had set down next to her while talking, and takes the offered hand. “Lead the way.”

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t seem to be able to write/post much when the show is airing so this has been developing for 3-4 months and just needed editing this week. May be looking forward to that nine-week hiatus as a chance to knock out some pieces. For anyone reading my multi-chapter, that’s next on my list.


End file.
